Meat and bone grinding machine



E. VIBLOOMQUIST 2,224,948

MEAT AND BONE GRINDING MACHINE Dec. 17, 1940.

Filed'Aug. 10, 1939 a MM 2% g 4% WWW f r (Di-O- \\\///////////@m w M\.\1 wwa -H- a m a a W MW 9 Z a, .a/ x a y z, w Z M 2| 55 6 2 m 5Patented Dec. 17, 1940 UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE 2,224,948 MEAT AND BONE GRINDING MACHINE Evert V.Bloomquist, Wausau, Wis. Application August 10, 1939, Serial No. 289,353

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a meat and bone grinding machine of heavy dutytype adapted to grind large portions of ,an animal carcass and isparticularly applicable for use on fox farms and the like.

The grinders previously used operated to crush the meat and bone ratherthan to grind them so that the resultant grindings were a mixture oflarge bone portions and crushed meat which were unsatisfactory foranimal feeding purposes. Further, these grinders were bulky and requiredlarge flywheels and motors for their successful operation. The heavyweight and high power were necessitated because of the crushing orbreaking action of the grinder on the portions fed thereto and theiralmost immediate ejection from the grinder in crushed form. Since eachcrushing action served to brake the grinding mechanism, suiiicient timehad to elapse to permit the machinery to come up to speed. A continuousfeeding of the grinder therefore was not obtainable. In meat grindingmachines of this type, it was necessary generally to provide a manuallyoperated pusher in the feeding hopper for forcing the meet and bone intothe cutting mechanism. This resulted in inconvenience to the operators,and a considerable length of time for the meat grinding operation. It isan object therefore of the present invention to provide for a novelarrangement of the cutting knives of the grinding mechanism whereby toobtain an automatic uniform feeding of the meat portions from thefeeding hopper into the grinder whereby to eliminate the requirement fora pushing device of any kind. Since the grinder is of comparatively highspeed design it also provides for a grinding capacity which exceeds thatof the previously used large grinding machines.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a grinding mechanismwhich efiiciently and completely grinds into small particles allportions of meat and bone which are fed thereto.

Another object of this invention is found in the provision of aneccentric lever which serves to hold the pivotally connected housingmembers of the grinding mechanism in assembled operative position, andprovides ready access to the grinding knives for cleaning and servicingpurposes upon a release thereof; the housing members swinging apart fromeach other.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the accompanying description and drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of the grinder as viewed along line l-lof Fig. 2; Fig. 2 is a sectable (not shown).

tion viewed along line 2-2 of Fig. 1 showing the arrangement of the headand bed knives, and the assembly of the eccentric connecting means, Fig.3 is a section taken along line 3-8 of Fig. 4, showing the bed knifeadjusting means; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side elevational view showingthe assembly of the bed knife, Fig. 5 is a plan view of a head knife andFig. 6 is a plan view, of a detachable segment for holding a head knifein the head member. With reference to Figure 1 the grinder frame housingI0 is seen to consist of a base structure I I, and a hopper member l2.The base I l, is substantially rectangular in shape, open at the top andbottom, and is formed with end walls l3 and 1. side walls I4 and I5. Thewalls IS'adjacent their lower ends are provided with pedestals It, forsecurement of the grinder to a suitable stand or The walls l3 arefurther provided with slotted portions l1, adapted to receive 20therein, the shaft ll of a head member l8, which will be hereinafterfully described. The shaft is journaled in suitable bearings 20 and 2|which are secured as by screws 22 or the like to the end walls IS. Abearing cap 23 is fitted over the shaft 25 end 24, to prevent dirt anddust from entering the bearing 20. The bearing 2| is provided with aplate 2IA, which is positioned about a sleeve 25 mounted on the shaftextension 26, which has secured thereto in a suitable manner a pulley21. 30 The pulley 21 is adapted for belt engagement with a driving motoror the like '(not shown) and may be of any suitable type.

The head I! is integrally formed with the'shaft I8 and is of a size tofit closely within the base 85 i I. It is thus seen that the head l9 andshaft 18 may be positioned as a unit in the base member by placement inthe slots I]; the bearings 28 and 2| serving to maintain the head inassembled operative position therein. The head l9 includes 40 two knives28 (Figs. 4 and 5) which are of, the

' flat straight type and are provided on the side threaded engagementtherewith. The portions 32 (Figs. 1 and 6) consist of similar axiallyextending segments which are removed from diametrically oppositesections of the head at an angle, to the axis of the head, of betweenthreeand twenty degrees.

It is to be'noted that the flat sides 36 of the segments and the matingflat sides 31 of the head lie in parallel planes. Since the knives 28are arranged between the segments 82 and the sides 31 of the head l8, itis seen that they too are positioned in diametric opposition, parallelto each other and hence similarly inclined to the axis of the head. Thelimits of angular inclination, as above defined, of the knives 28 withrespect to the axis of head, provided for a highly eflicient and desiredshearing action when operating in conjunction with a longitudinallydisposed stationary bed knife 88, i a manner to be later fullyexplained. The cutt edges 88 of the knives 28 are also diametricallysitioned so that the leading ends 88 thereof are located at oppositeends of the head l9 (Figs. 2 and 3). It is thus seen that the knifeblades 28 are arranged in an opposed angular relation so that each blade28 will start its cutting action with the blade 38 at an opposite end ofthe head member l8. By positioning the cutting edges 88 of the blades 28in this manner the start of the cutting action of each blade 28 is madeto occur at opposite ends of the head IQ, for a purpose to be laterdescribed. The knives 28 are readily adjusted in the head I9 by means ofthe slots 8|, which permit a transverse movement of the knives betweenthe head and the portions 82. The desired adjustment is maintained bythe tightening of the screws 33. The counter sunk portions 48 in theportions 82 serve to keep the cap screw heads 4| within the peripheralboundary of the head and out of contact with the material to be ground.It is thus seen that a maximum bearing support for the cutters 28, isobtained by the above described assembly, whereby adjustment andreplacement of the cutters, due to heavy cutting, is reduced to aminimum.

The knives 28 operate in conjunction with the bed knife 38 which issubstantially similar to the knives 28. The bed knife 88 (Figs. 3 and 4)is supported on a projection 42 which extends laterally of the base i I,and is secured thereto by means of cap screws 43, which extend throughthe knife slots 44 into tapped holes 48 for threadj ed engagement in theprojection 42. Adjustment of the bed knife 38 relative to the headknives 28 is obtained by similar adjusting screws 48, each of which ispositioned in the leg 41 of an L-member 48, the leg 49 thereof beingsecured to the underside of projection 42 by a cap screw 88.

In the efficient operation of the present grinder, it is of the utmostimportance that the bed knife be positioned a distance of betweenone-sixth and one-third the diameter of the head l8 above the axis ofthe head, the knives 28 and bed knife 38 being adjusted for cuttingaction at that position. v In experimental work it was found that thisposition of the bed knife in conjunction with the three to twenty degreeangular inclination of the head knives, with respect to the head axis,as above defined, provides for an automatic feeding of the material fromthe hopper l2 into the cutting zone of the knives. The automatic feedingof the meat into the grinding mechanism is obtained as a result of aneffective cutting action over a considerable section of the cutting edge38 of each kn fe, which section includes the leading end 39 of theknife, while the remainder of the cutting edge serves to draw the meatdownwardly into the grinder. Since the knives are arranged with theirleading cutting ends at opposite ends of the head i9, that portion ofeach knife which draws the meat into the grinding mechanism serves as afeeding means for the effective cutting length of the other knife. Thecombined cutting and feeding action from a single knife is due to theuse of knives 28 of a fiat rather than a helical form, the varyingdistance of the knife increments along the cutting edge 88 from the axisof the head, resulting in correspondingly varying circles of travel andhence varying clearances between such increments and the cutting edge 8|of the bed knife 88. A cutting operation is thus maintained at all timesso that a continuous feed of material into the grinder may bemaintained. The grooves 28A, formed in the head 18 adjacent theunderside of the knives 28 and coextensive therewith serve to trough themeat and bone being cut, whereby to eliminate a collecting of the cutmaterial about the underside of the knives. A setting of the bed knife88 below the above defined position results in a low grinding capacityof the grinder due to the material being pushed above the knives ratherthan drawn into the knives, thereby requiring a manual pusher forforcing the material into the knives. The present invention eliminatesthe need for a manual pusher for the reasons above explained. When theleading ends of the knives 28 are disposed at the same end of the headl8 the meat to be ground tends to feed toward that one end of the head,thereby lessening the grinding capacity of the grinder. By arranging theleading ends 88 of the cutting edges 88 of the knives 28 at oppositeends of the head, the meat is fed substantially uniformly over thelength of the head, thereby providing for a feeding rate commensuratewith the maximum cutting speed of the knives. A highgrinding capacity ofthe grinder is thus obtained.

The base ll adjacent the upper end 82 of side wall l4 ,and the hopper l2adjacent the lower end 88 of side wall 84 are pivotally connected bymeans of a pin 88 which is journalled in laterally projecting ears 88and 81, which are formed on the.;walls l4 and 84, respectively, of thebase ll .f 8 1ld hopper l2, respectively. The hopper 12 may The materialfed to a grinder of this type senerally consists of quartered portionsof horses,

,cattle'and the like, which portions contain fats and muscular tissues.During use of the grinder this material becomes lodged about the cuttinghead and it is desirable therefore, that the head l8 and the knives 28and 88 be-frequently cleaned.

The members II and I! are secured together in operative assemblyposition by means of an cecentric lever mechanism, which is denotedgenerally as 88. The mechanism 88 includes a lever 88, having aneccentric 8| near the end 82 thereof, which is pivotally connected tothe end 88 of a. double link 84. The link end 88 is pivotally connectedto the end of bolt 88 which is fitted through a slot 44 in the bed knife88 and an aperture 81 in the projection 42. Lock nuts 88 serve to securethe bolt 88 in the projection 42 and also to hold the bed knife 88 inposition thereon. The nuts 88 serve further to provide for an adjustmentof the effective operating 18 length of the link 64, whereby to obtain asuitably tight engagement between the eccentric 8| and the lateralprojection 69 on the side wall 10 'of the hopper l2. It is apparent,therefore, that an upward movement of the lever 60, as viewed in Fig. 2,will effect a disengagement of the eccentric BI and projection 69 so asto permit the hopper l2 to be swung away from the base II. Therepositioning of the hopper I! on the base II is obtained in an obviousmanner, the lower end of hopper l2 and the upper end of base H beingadapted for a mating engagement.

In the operation of the present invention the head is rotated in thedirection of the arrows (Fig. 2) by engagement of thepulley 21 with a.suitable driving means (not shown). The meat and bone fed into thehopper I2 is automatically drawn into the cutting zone of the knives 28and 38, in the manner above described. The ground meat and bone isdischarged from the grinder through the bottom of the base member II. Tofacilitate feeding into the hopper l2 and to prevent any ground meat andbone particles from being thrown upward therethrough a hopper extensionH may be used, which-fits on the hopper l2, as illustrated in Figs. -1and 2.

The present invention is thus seen to provide for an automatic feedingmeat grinder which is simple of construction, efficient in operation,compact of design, and cheap in cost.

It is to be understood that a preferred embodiment only of the presentinvention has been described and shown herein, and that alterations andmodifications in the parts and arrangement thereof, may be effectedwithout departing from the spirit and full intended scope of theinvention, as defined by the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. In a meat and bone grinding machine, having a frame member, thecombination of a cylindrical head member rotatably positioned withinsaid frame member, a pair of cutting blades of flat type arranged in asubstantially parallel relation in said head member at an angle to theaxis of said head member, and a longitudinally extending stationaryknife in operative association with said blades at a position above theaxis of said head member, the cutting edge of each of said bladesprojecting substantially evenly from the periphery of said head memberover the length thereof, each blade co-acting with the stationary knifeto effect a cutting of the meat and bone over the leading blade portionand to draw the meat and bone in the direction of rotation of said headover the remaining blade portion.

. extending stationary knife in operative association with said cuttingblades, said cutting blades being reversely inclined relative to saidstationary cutting knife at the zone of cutting engagement.

EVERT V. BLOOMQUIST.

2. In a grinding machine having a frame struc-

